Lai Sung-hee pitched dominantly for Chinese Taipei, striking out 12 batters to keep Venezuela at bay. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
Chinese Taipei easily defeated Venezuela, 4-1, in the international championship game on Saturday to advance to Sunday's Little League World Series finals.
The Asia-Pacific regional champions played well defensively and capitalized on Venezuela's mistakes to secure the win and book a spot in the LLWS finals, where Chinese Taipei will face the winner of the US National Championship (Texas or Florida) on Saturday.
Chinese Taipei pitcher Lai Sung-hee had an outstanding game, striking out 12 batters over 5 1/3 innings. Lai's dominant pitching kept Venezuela off base for the first five innings and kept the Latin American champions scoreless until the final inning.
Luis Yepes, who had been outstanding throughout the tournament, started for Venezuela but struggled early on, walking multiple batters in the first inning. A wild pitch from Yepes gave Chinese Taipei a chance to take the lead, and Chiu Wei-che scored easily from third base.
Yepes got back on track, striking out three batters in a row in the second inning, but was replaced by Jose Pérez after the bases were loaded in the third. A walk and a wild pitch by Pérez gave Chinese Taipei two more runs in the third to take a 3-0 lead.
Chinese Taipei scored again in the fifth inning when Samuel Carrasquel and Yepes collided while chasing a fly ball in center field, causing Carrasquel to miss the catch and end the inning.
Venezuela fought back in the sixth inning, sending two runners to base and creating a chance to turn the game around. Lai, who threw over 85 pitches, was replaced by Chiu. Venezuela scored their first run on a sacrifice hit, but Chinese Taipei got the third and final out to win the game, 4-1.
With the win, Chinese Taipei will advance to face the winner of Texas vs. Florida in Sunday's Little League World Series final, as they try to become the first international team to win a World Series title since Japan won in 2017.
